Free e-book: Windows 7 troubleshooting tips

Mitch Tulloch, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and lead author of the just-published
(and hot-selling) Windows
7 Resource Kit (Microsoft Press, 2010; ISBN: 9780735627000; 1760 pages),
has created a short e-book called “What You Can Do Before You Call Tech Support.”
Here are the opening paragraphs:

Your sound card has stopped working, your computer seems sluggish, the network is
down, your hard drive is clicking, you can’t view a website, your monitor is hard
to read, your new webcam isn’t working, your favorite program won’t run, and a funny
burning smell is coming from your computer. What can you do on your own to try to
troubleshoot the issue before you pick up the phone to call tech support?

If you’re running Windows 7, quite a lot. Microsoft has included a lot of self-support
tools in Windows 7 that you can try using before you seek the help of others, and
we’ll examine these in a moment. Then there are the tools you were born with—your
five senses (see, hear, smell, taste, touch) and most importantly your brain. And
by brain I’m including your memory, experience, and capacity for logical reasoning.
Finally, there is ancient and sacred lore passed on in secret from Master to Disciple
over the millennia. We’ll see shortly how your brain, your senses, and the secrets
of the Wise Ones can be very helpful for troubleshooting computer problems. But first
let’s look at what troubleshooting tools are built into Windows 7.